U.S. Open Officials 'Regret' Penalty Given Woman Player For Shirt Change

Pascal Rossignol / Reuters
A U.S. Open chair umpire faced criticism for being sexist after he gave French tennis player Alizé Cornet, pictured here at the French Open in May, a code violation for changing her shirt on court.

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U.S. Open tennis officials backtracked after a chair umpire on Tuesday issued a code violation to Alizé Cornet for changing her shirt on court after the French player realized she had been wearing it inside out.

Tennis has a long history of gender inequity, including pay disparities and scrutinizing female players’ appearance and clothing choices while rarely doing so for male competitors.

The United States Tennis Association (USTA), which organizes the U.S. Open, responded to the backlash by expressing “regret” over the code violation given Cornet, which constituted a warning for “unsportsmanlike conduct.” She was not assessed a point loss.

“All players can change their shirts when sitting in the player chair. This is not considered a code violation,” the USTA said in a statement on Wednesday. “We have clarified the policy to ensure this will not happen moving forward. Fortunately, she was only assessed a warning with no further penalty or fine.”

Cornet ended up losing her match to Sweden’s Johanna Larsson in three sets.

On Twitter, tennis legend Billie Jean King, who has long fought for gender equality in the sport, criticized the decision on Williams’ attire, calling on tennis officials to stop “the policing of women’s bodies.”

The policing of women’s bodies must end. The “respect” that’s needed is for the exceptional talent ⁦@serenawilliams⁩ brings to the game. Criticizing what she wears to work is where the true disrespect lies. https://t.co/ioyP9VTCxM

“Fashion usually dictates our freedoms. Back in the old days, our wrists and our ankles couldn’t be shown,” she said in an interview with New York magazine’s The Cut on Tuesday. “If you look at the fashion every decade in women’s tennis... you can see how things are changing in the world for us: our freedoms, the way we dress, which is good. But I never hear them really talk about how the guys should dress.”

Responding to Cornet being unfairly singled out, King on Wednesday tweeted that the USTA rule on shirt changes by women players was “outdated and impractical.”